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cajun spice

There are many Cajun seasoning blends on the market today, all with their own distinct characteristics. Most are boldly flavored and sassy and representative of Cajun cooking in general. A Cajun seasoning blend might include garlic, onion, cayenne pepper, black pepper, dry mustard, paprika, thyme, cumin and/or celery seed.

Cajun seasoning is used heavily in gumbo, jambalaya and blackened fish dishes, as well as for spicing up boiled shrimp and crawfish, French fries and sauces.

Today's Cajuns are descendents of French-Canadian settlers who had taken up residence in the Louisiana bayous, brought their own flavors to the party. Original masters of the one-pot meal, these locals created a cuisine all their own based on native herbs, game, and vegetables. Cajun cooking, a combination of French and Southern cuisines, is robust, country-style cookery that uses a dark roux and plenty of animal (usually pork) fat.

Brownish Red in colour

Composed of many different spices, Cajun spice is a complex blend of spicy, earthy, pungent, and grassy.

Cajun cuisine developed out of necessity. The Acadian refugees, farmers rendered destitute by the British expulsion, had to learn to live off the land and adapted their French rustic cuisine to local (i.e. Louisiana) ingredients such as rice, crawfish, and sugar cane. Many households were large, consisting of eight to twelve people; thus, regardless what other vocations may have been followed by the head of household, most families also farmed. Feeding a large family, all of whose members did hard physical work every day, required a lot of food. Cajun cuisine grew out of supplementing rice with white meat, game or other proteins were available such as crawfish or any other type of river creature.